Monday, February 19, 2007

HBO's Rome S2 Ep 6

So I spoke too soon last time and relapsed shortly after. I think I'm alive again. ::knocks on wood::

It's sort of silly for me to do an actual summary, seeing as they have detailed summaries on the official site (and as I have work to do!). But a few quick thoughts.

SPOILERS, as usual.

-Antony's beard weirds me out. But Antony and Atia do look good together coming out of the tent in their furs and whatnot. Still, I prefer clean-shaven Antony.-Is there no end to the people Atia will murder to "protect" her daughter? Still, very amusingly done, though I'm sure Octavia would once again think otherwise.-Oh how far Timon has come! From Atia's horseman to trying to save his people from handing themselves over to the Romans. I do like that they're pursuing this thread though (in the wider political sense, not the Timon has come so far sense).-Octavia and Agrippa really do make an adorable couple. And it's really about time Octavia had something decent happen to her.-The old Vorenus seems to be returning to some degree. But I don't really like where his character has been. They're doing a good job of not ignoring that he's gone to the "Dark Side" while reforming him, but I don't think I'll personally ever be able to come to terms with what they did to him before. So anything they do to him now will probably just seem odd to me.-Cicero's death made me sad. A good portion of that was because we come to terms with the fact that our beloved Pullo really is a killer but somehow manages to be so in an "awww, cute!" manner. That's just wrong--and disconcerting. But I like how Cicero had come to terms with his death, as he had come to terms with his position in his earlier conversation with Antony (before fleeing).-Once again with Vorenus & Pullo influencing major events by minor happenstance. I like how the children turned Cicero's letter into a hat. :-P-Poor Cassius and his lack of birthday cake. It occurs to me I haven't the foggiest idea if Romans had birthday cakes.-Brutus' death was SO brilliantly done. And it mirrored Caesar's oh so well. And where is that little ring off to now? I like how they ride right past his body when saying it has not yet been found. "People appreciate the little touches" (in reference to their heads being packed in salt to ship back to Rome) was an endlessly amusing line.-Lastly, I don't much like Octavian anymore. He was much more adorable as a boy. This is not Simon Woods' fault. I mean, the poor boy had to grow up and murder people, y'know. Fact of life and such. I am, however, waiting for him to smack Antony (who really needs to just shave).

Oh, from last episode, has anyone figured out the hand signal Vorena is making at the end? That is, has anyone seen anything from a legitimate source on whether such hand signals were used? It doesn't seem like Rome to pull these things out of nowhere, but I hadn't seen such things before. The official site says her hands are shaped as horns, and it's a curse.

8 Comments:

The hand signal Vorena makes is the Mano Cornuta or horned hand, is believed to have started w. the Etruscans. It protects against the "Evil Eye" (her father) The evil eye is also believed to harm the forces of reproduction. The horned hand is used to protect mothers & their babies.

You are right about Ovid. It's Tristia 4.10, where he says his brother was exactly 1 year older than he, and that they celebrated their birthday with two cakes on one day: una celebrata est per duo liba dies (line 12).

Glaukôpis has finally, after five years, graduated with BAs in Classics, English, and history. She will be heading off to England shortly to begin grad school in Classics. The blog will continue chronicling her academic endeavours as well as whatever interesting Classical tidbits she notes along the way. Glaukôpis' parents hope that she does not pick up a British accent in her year abroad. Glaukôpis herself thinks this would be quite amusing.

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